Springfield Rail Relocation Work Begins

Work has begun to get Amtrak out of the street in Springfield, Illinois.

Amtrak’s Chicago-St. Louis trains have partial street running on Third Street in Springfield, but the plans are to add an additional track to a Norfolk Southern line (former Wabash) and move rail traffic off the Union Pacific (former Gulf, Mobile & Ohio) line now used by the Texas Eagle and Lincoln Service trains.

Demotion of a building has begun to clear space for parking for Horace Mann Educators, which will lose parking spaces due to some of its land being used for an expanded railroad right of way along 10th Street.

The building being razed at 100 N. Ninth St. had housed offices of the Salvation Army, which is moving to another location.

Another demolition that is expected to begin in the coming weeks will remove a building at 901 E. Adams St. at the site of future transit transfer center for the Springfield Mass Transit District that will open in 2017.

SMTD currently operates an on-street transfer operation at Fifth and Capitol.

Eventually the site will become a multi-modal center used by Amtrak, intercity buses and other public transportation services. City officials expect the area on both sides of the 10th Street rail corridor to develop into a retail-commercial area.

For now, Amtrak and UP freight trains will continue to use the ex-GM&O tracks along Third Street.

This entry was posted on November 1, 2016 at 4:56 am and is filed under Other News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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